Improved California Spring Snowpack Won’t End Drought

FRESNO (AP) – California drought surveyors will trudge through deep snow Wednesday to manually measure what could be close to a normal Sierra Nevada snowpack for this time of year, a key indicator of the state’s water condition.
A year ago, Gov. Jerry Brown stood on the same spot – then a dusty patch of ground with no snow – to announce that the dire drought required residents to cut back water use by 25 percent.
Statewide, the snowpack was then at 5 percent, marking